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BeReal: The Accidental Hero of Social Media

Two Guys Tried to Fix the Internet and Ended Up with €500 Million

Author

Hamish BuyersClub
March 13, 2025

Insecurity, fakeness, addiction and isolation - the key aspects to a successful social media platform. That is until the launch of BeReal.

So… This is my first newsletter and I’m pretty new to this. But my interest lies in incredible founders overcoming humungous challenges to create disruptive businesses that sell for millions. So we’re kicking it off with BeReal…

News in the M&A world:

7-Eleven owner rejects $38 billion buyout offer:

In a letter addressed to the prospective buyer, Seven & i Holdings said the Circle K owner's offer "grossly" undervalued the company.

The 7-Eleven owner mentioned, however, that it remains open to negotiations and are ready to consider a better proposal.

Boots finds a new US owner in multi-billion dollar deal:

The price for Walgreens Boots Alliance is a fraction of what the company was worth a decade ago, after its struggles with growing debt and growing e-commerce threats.

There have been reports that the Boots chain could be sold off separately by its new owner - Sycamore Partners.

Back to the show…

However, before we start, my question to you is: If you once had BeReal, do you still have it now? Maybe this is a hint to what will come.

In an era of curated online personas, BeReal emerged as a radical disruptor, challenging the status quo by championing authenticity and spontaneity, going against the grain completely.

Stage 1: Urgency and Randomness (2020-2022)

BeReal's early years were characterised by a simple, powerful idea: to capture genuine, unscripted moments. This vision resonated deeply with a generation seeking a departure from the polished facades of traditional social media. Founded in 2020 by Alexis Barreyat (CEO), who previously worked in media production at GoPro and Kévin Perreau who was the Chief Project Officer at Opteamis with one goal in mind - a social media that shows reality.

Viral Growth:

  • Urgency, authenticity and randomness were the elements of success. Users saw this approach as refreshing, as opposed to the draining and staged reality of mainstream social media.

  • People want to be authentic and spontaneous. Realising this was key to Alexis and Kévin’s insane traction, spiking at 934,000 users in 2022 from 233 users in 2020.

Stage 2: Fighting Giants

As BeReal's popularity surged, it faced the inevitable challenges of scaling, competition, and maintaining its core values, leading Alexis and Kévin ro determine it was time to find more capital to compete. Andreessen Horowitz and Accel - two top venture capital firms known for their investments in AI led in a $30 million funding round to aid in BeReal’s growth.

For instance, Instagram launched "Candid Stories" as an experimental feature, mirroring BeReal’s dual-camera and time-sensitive post structure.

Similarly, TikTok introduced "TikTok Now," which functioned almost identically to BeReal, sending users daily prompts to capture and share content within a specific timeframe.

The impact of this competitive response was significant. BeReal, which had surpassed 73 million monthly active users by mid-2022, faced a slowdown in its growth as these well-established platforms leveraged their larger user bases and easily integrated changes. BeReal saw a surge in downloads, peaking at over 15 million in September 2022. However, reports later indicated a decline in user engagement, with many people not posting consistently.

The challenge for BeReal was maintaining differentiation in a market where giants like Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat could quickly adapt and distribute similar experiences to billions of users. This competitive pressure significantly threatened BeReal’s unique value.

So, during a make or break moment, how did they combat the challenges faced by giants?

  1. Expanded Posting Features

    In late 2023, BeReal introduced "Bonus BeReal", allowing users to post multiple times per day to boost user engagement.

  2. Discovery & Friends-of-Friends Features

    BeReal tested "Friends of Friends", enabling users to expand their network beyond just direct connections, addressing concerns about limited content.

  3. Real-Time Engagement Enhancements

    The company introduced new ways to interact, including video reactions (RealMojis) and better commenting features, making interactions more dynamic.

  4. Testing Monetisation Models

    Although BeReal remained ad-free, it explored potential revenue streams such as premium features or in-app customisation options to create a sustainable business model.

Stage 3: Making it out Alive

This was a long battle. However, staying persistent successfully led to an acquisition by the French app developer Voodoo in June 2024 for a reported €500 million (approximately £450 million).

Where does BeReal sit now?

Although BeReal is not quite the household name it used to be, it continues to redefine social media by sticking to its core principles of prioritising authenticity and spontaneity. It aims to create a space for genuine connection in an increasingly digital world.

Daily Active Users (DAU): BeReal reported approximately 25 million daily active users as of April 2024.

Total Downloads: The app has been downloaded over 100 million times since its launch in December 2019, with a substantial portion of these downloads occurring in 2022.

Leadership Transition: Post-acquisition, co-founder Alexis Barreyat is set to step down after a transition period, marking a significant change in the company's leadership.

Good Reads & Recommendations:

Book Recommendation - No Rules Rules (Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer):
A deep dive into the weird and wonderful rules of working at Netflix, their desired impact, and the odd ways they have done such a good job with them.

Podcast Recommendation - The Public Speaking Expert (Diary of a CEO):
A thought provoking podcast on communication (this makes it sound boring). However, one of my key takeaways being: even if you are 10/10 in your fields knowledge, but your effectiveness at communicating it is 3/10. Others will perceive you as a 3/10.

Tiny StartupsThe #1 newsletter for bootstrapped founders. Read by over 16,000 bootstrapped startup founders, entrepreneurs and online business owners. Written by a human.

I am always on the hunt for an interesting and disrupting company to write about. So if you run a business and are open to an interview, reply to this email. Let’s discuss…

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